He Saw Her
by amixdeuxgirl
Summary: Hermione was different. He saw that. She was also missing something, or someone, who would take the time to see her. Harry and Ron tried, she knew. She needed a man. And Cedric decided to be him. Non-book 4 compliant. Ced didn't die.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! So I've been reading a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction, and I especially like Cedric/Hermione, but noticed that there are only a few posted. I am actually planning to continue my Hunger Games story, but there's been a lot of stuff going on at home. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this!

She woke up in darkness. Stretching her aching limbs, she looked around in bewilderment. _Where am I?_ _Oh, no. No, no, no. _She could have slapped herself.

Yes, it's true. Hermione Granger, ultimate rule follower… Fell asleep in the library. After hours. _Oh no! Madam Pince must've locked up while I was sleeping! _She was royally screwed, and would have to wait till morning to get out.

It wasn't that she had stayed late to work on an assignment, or had just lost track of time. No, Hermione Granger had been reading a book. _Though, it was a good book. _She rationalized, as she stood up from the cozy corner she's curled up in. _Scratch that. Enthralling, mystical, awe-inspiring…_

The second surprise? It was a love story. Now, Hermione Granger was a bookworm. She loved all things books. Except romances. She hated anything mushy; thought it was too unrealistic. She squealed at the thought of brand new textbooks, with pages just waiting to be turned; she did a happy dance when she found a new book on the First Five Goblin Wars. She was a non-fiction reader through and through. What exactly possessed her to pick up this fantastic romantic novel again was beyond her.

It _did_ have something to do with a certain brown-haired, handsome, young man, but of course, the thought of Cedric Diggory influencing her romantic whims had never crossed her mind. Or had just been readily dismissed.

It had all started that afternoon. It was Saturday, and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were on their way to Quidditch practice, as the game against Hufflepuff was only two weeks away. After breakfast, she parted with them, and after a moment of wandering the halls decided to find a new book to fill her free hours. As she made her way to the library, she was stopped by a most unpleasant surprise.

Malfoy. Now, Draco Malfoy was a bully. Without him, Hermione's Hogwarts years would be absolutely perfect, but as he was incessantly cruel to her, her days were spent in insecurity, and feeling as though she had to prove herself to wizards like him. Today, she'd had enough. _I've finally calmed down about OWLs, I finally have some free time from all of the studying, and I sure as heck am not letting Draco Malfoy ruin my day. _

"So, how's our favorite mudblood, eh?" he drawled, earning snickers from Crabbe and Goyle.

She stared him down. "Malfoy, let me pass or I swear to Merlin you'll get hexed so badly you'll go crying to your daddy."

Malfoy took a step closer to her, and she grew frightened. Normally they kept their distance by mutual agreement, but he just broke that, and she no longer felt in control. There weren't even any people in the hallways, and she didn't trust him not to do something seriously bad to her.

"Now why would I want to do that, my little mudblood?" he hissed in her ear.

"I… I-" She was saved from answering when a deep male voice interrupted her.

"Malfoy, you take one more step towards her and you'll regret it."

Hermione looked up and recognized him as Cedric Diggory. He was tall, lean, but well-built. His shoulders were broad and his hair fairly unkempt. She grew red as she realized that she'd been saved by one of the handsomest men at Hogwarts, and on such embarrassing terms, she wanted to crawl into a hole. As she was assessing the risk of being noticed if she _just _slipped into the broom cupboard some yards away, Cedric addressed her.

"I think you should come with me." His tone of voice left no room for argument, but she sensed that he wanted to avoid as much confrontation with Malfoy as possible.

She sighed inaudibly as she saw that she had no choice, but the awkwardness meter was sure to go up if she went with him. He beckoned her to follow him, and she heard Malfoy hiss something incoherent as she passed him. _Probably just another jibe about my heritage. _Once they got out of earshot, she let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. His head twitched to the side, indicating that he'd heard her, but he said nothing. After almost five minutes of silence she spoke up.

"Thank you. I would've sorted it out if you hadn't come along though. I can handle him." Of course, she didn't believe the lie anymore, Malfoy had so obviously freaked her out.

He swiveled his head to face her.

"Hermione," He surprised her by calling her by her first name. She hadn't even known that he'd known it.

"We both know that's a lie. I saw it; you were scared shitless." There was a glimmer of amusement in his light brown eyes.

She chuckled, deciding that she'd have to find some humour in it so as not to have a slight breakdown. "Okay, maybe I was." She said.

He smiled. "So where were you going? I'll escort you there, seeing as you're such a damsel in distress."

She stopped walking, put her hands on her hips, and used her best 'how-dare-you' glare. "I will have you know that I am _perfectly_ capable-" Her speech was cut off by his loud snort of laughter.

She was indignant. _He's laughing at me!_ She thought.

At the extremely pissed off face she made, he stopped laughing and composed himself. "Merlin, they were right! You'd make a bloke take off running when you get all angry like that!"

She felt her anger dissipate. She chuckled, "Well, good. I can also hex, punch, slap, you name it." She felt a surge of confidence and poked him in the ribs. He grinned.

"Alright, so back to business. Where you headed?" He asked.

"The library. I wanted a new novel; I haven't read a new book in ages."

"That's where I was going, I need to research for a Potion's essay. How's about I join you? It might do to procrastinate a bit."

Hermione laughed at that. "Fine, fine. But then I'll make you help me find a book."

When they arrived at the library, Hermione grinned. This place was her home. She breathed in the fresh air coming through the tall open windows and inhaled the smell of aged parchment. She turned to him and caught him laughing to himself.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked, a little miffed.

He quickly composed himself. "Oh, nothing. Let's find you that book, shall we?"

As they browsed through the aisles in near silence, she got increasingly curious. _Why exactly is he giving up some of his Saturday to hang out with me? I mean, there's tons of better looking girls his age lining up to hang out with him. Doesn't he have anything better to do?_

She took a moment to mentally encourage herself. (This _was_ Cedric Diggory after all).

"So… Uh…" _Oh, great._ She thought. _How very eloquent of you, Hermione. _ "Why exactly have you chosen to hang out me? I mean, we're not really friends are we?"

He considered this. "Maybe I wanted to talk to someone new? I don't have anything better to do, sans my essay, but I plan on avoiding that for however long I can. How about this one? It seems girly."

She snorted. "Oh yes, and I am the epitome of girliness. No, I'd rather have a nonfiction novel or a field journal."

He nodded, then smiled. "Guess I'll have to know that if we're to be friends, eh?"

She grinned at him, a little surprised. "Guess so. D'you need help with that essay? I read about moonstones a few days ago, maybe I can help…"

And so the friendship started. She'd helped him with his essay after he helped her pick out a few field journals about potions ingredients. They got plenty of stares; Who would have guess that Bookworm Granger would share playful banter with Heartthrob Diggory? They got along well though, and when he bade her goodnight, she felt that they'd be good friends.

And who knew that Cedric Diggory had a brain between his ears? That she had never heard of in the rumors that she always caught snippets of; living with Pravati Patil and Lavender Brown had that effect. She then wandered the aisles, looking for anything they might've missed, as they had spent most of the time getting to know one another. She then came across the love story he'd picked out at first. Her interest piqued, she found a corner and started reading. Right before she fell asleep, she couldn't help but wonder if she might have a prince charming too. _And maybe he'll have brown hair, and brown eyes…_And she fell asleep with Cedric's face imprinted in her thoughts, though she'd never admit to it.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hermione's pov_

Walking toward the Gryffindor table, Hermione spots Ginny and waves. She hurries to her spot and plops down.

"Hey stranger! I didn't see you all day yesterday!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, I overslept a bit. Had to catch something down at the kitchens."

Ginny nods understandingly.

Turning to Harry and Ron, who'd been arguing about their new ideas for the Quidditch team, she says, "Hey, guys, are we all going to Hogsmeade together? We hadn't agreed on anything last time."

"Oh, right, well I was thinking maybe we could go to Zonko's first, and then-" He trails off, noticing that Ginny had stopped listening.

"Erm..." He stared at her confusedly.

Ginny, meanwhile was hitting Hermione on the arm repeatedly.

"Ow, ow! Gin what is wrong with you!?" She exclaimed.

Excitedly, Ginny answers, "It's Diggory! Cedric Diggory and _he's staring!"_

At this, Hermione turns to look at the Hufflepuff table and her eyes widen.

Cedric is chucking and waving at her, and mouths "What's wrong with her?" pointing at Ginny.

Hermione rolls her eyes and shrugs, smiling. He laughs and returns to his plate.

"_HERMIONE. What. Was. That." _Ginny practically screams.

Hermione shushes her with the promise of an explanation later.

_Cedric's pov_

Making his way through the halls of Hogwarts, Cedric passes the History of Magic classroom. He remembers from their library excursion that Hermione is in there. He quickly cooks up a plan.

_Hermione's pov_

Sitting in History of Magic taking detailed notes, Hermione's head snaps up at the commotion in the hall. She turns to see the door being flung open by none other than Cedric Diggory, whose hair is severely tousled and whose tie and school shirt are askew.

Professor Binns looks up in alarm and indignation, "Now, Diggory!"

Cedric pushes the hair out of his face and stands up straight, "I require the use of Hermione Granger and her abnormally large brain."

He winks at her and she blushes.

"Well, I- Why exactly?" Professor Binns blusters out.

"We had a bit of a mishap in the Transfiguration room. Giant toads everywhere. I'm one of the only ones helping, and I work better with Miss Granger here."

"I- Oh, alright. Miss Granger, you're excused."

Hermione looks relieved and packs her things quickly, Telling the boys she'll see them at dinner, shouldering her bag and following Cedric out.

_Cedric's pov_

Cedric is actually surprised he pulled that off. Setting off a few zonkos products and making himself look disheveled was actually quite easy.

He's very glad Binns let Hermione go, though he's even more glad that she went willingly, though he suspects she figured out the scam.

He decides to take this as a good sign.

_Hermione's pov_

Hermione glances sideways at Cedric, amused.

"So, what was that all about?"

"What, a guy isn't allowed to make up elaborate schemes to hang out with a friend?" She laughs in response.

"I'm actually surprised you came; school's so important to you."

"Well actually, I just happen to be a few chapters ahead of everyone, so it's alright." She answers.

"Ah, good. So, what should we do?"

She turns to him, "What, so you don't even have anything planned?"

He looks at her, indignant, "Well I was a bit preoccupied with the scheming to get you, Missy, out of class."

She laughs, "Touche. You wanna get a snack in the kitchens and just walk around?"

He looks at her and smiles. "Sounds like a plan."

- Sometime later -

Collapsing on her bed, Hermione sighs happily.

Ginny, brushing her hair in front of the mirror, says conversationally, "So... Heard you ran off with Diggory..."

Hermione sits up quickly. "Ginny, don't you start. We are _friends. _And we had a very nice time, actually, so I'd appreciate you not ruining it with your convoluted romantic theories." She huffs and plops back down.

"And anyways, he's not interested in me _that way_, that much I can tell."

"If you say so, sweetie..." Ginny finishes brushing and sits down on her bed, folding her legs under her.

The rest of the night is filled with Ginny's boy drama and Hermione revels in the fact that she has a girl-friend. It's such a nice change to Harry and Ron's utter boyishness.

They both go to sleep thoroughly gossiped out, and while Ginny dreams of a certain raven-haired boy, Hermione once again dreams of Cedric. (Though of course, it couldn't be more than a coincidence).


End file.
